Growing Up to fast?

I was reading an article from the Wall Street Journal that I found interesting on the computer. It spoke about how kids today are growing up way too fast. If you look around in today's society you see kids 12 or even 14 years old acting way beyond their years. In the article I read that "Tweens" acting older than they really are , are steadily increasing. "The 12 and 14 year olds of yesterday are the 10-12's of today" says Bruce Friend and is he not right? Statistically, teen crime rates and the amount of girls that admitted to having sex rose 19% from 11%. The way kids act nowadays are getting worse and as they should be playing and living life as a kid, they live the life of a 18 year old person with more mature interests. Personally, I don't know what drives kid's to act older than they really are; but maybe it is just the surroundings and media kids are sucked into to these days. Who knows? Acting older could be a positive thing but on a much more complex level. I don't think there is anything positive on how kids act these days. Along with alcohol and drug use, these are the  troubling trends "tweens" are faced with these days. The media shows more of a example of these behaviors than anything around us. Models that are supposed to be looked up too for girls are now looked down on in society because of health problems and eating disorders they shove into young girls faces. Song writers and rap artists are supposed to be looked at as role models for kids mostly guys who feel they can't express themselves any other way other than turning a song. Now, songs are the worst to listen to while kid's think it's cool so they sing along to it because the rest of the world does. Acting older than you are , I think makes you more immature than you start with. I think kids should act exactly how old they are and live their lives to the fullest; with each step and not skipping any.